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Merit: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Thy father's merit sets thee up to view, And shows thee in the fairest point of light, To make thy virtues, or thy faults, conspicuous.— ADDISON — Cato. Act I. Sc. 2.

View the whole scene, with critic judgment scan, And then deny him merit if you can. Where he falls short, 'tis Nature's fault alone; Where he succeeds, the merit's all his own.— CHURCHILL — The Rosciad. L. 1,023.

It sounds like stories from the land of spirits, If any man obtain that which he merits, Or any merit that which he obtains.— COLERIDGE — Complaint.

On their own merits modest men are dumb. GEORGE COLMAN (The Younger)- Epilogue to The Heir-at-Law. By merit raised To that bad eminence.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 5.

The sufficiency of merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.— QUARLES — Emblems. Bk. II. Em. I.

O, that estates, degrees and offices Were not deriv'd corruptly, and that clear honour Were purchas'd by the merit of the wearer.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act II. Sc. 9. L. 41.

Virtute ambire oportet, non favitoribus. Sat habet favitorum semper, qui recte facit. We should try to succeed by merit, not by favor. He who does well will always have patrons enough.— PLAUTUS — Amphitruo. Prologue.

Il y a du mérite sans élévation mais il n'y a point d'élévation sans quelque mérite. There is merit without elevation, but there is no elevation without some merit.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes. 401.

La faveur des princes n'exclut pas le mérite, et ne le suppose pas aussi. The favor of princes does not preclude the existence of merit, and yet does not prove that it exists.— LA BRUYÈRE — Les Caractères. XII.

Le mérite des hommes a sa saison aussi bien que les fruits. There is a season for man's merit as well as for fruit.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes. 291.

Le monde récompense plus souvent les apparences de mérite que le mérite même. The world rewards the appearance of merit oftener than merit itself.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes. 166.